Mob Lynches Female Suicide Bomb Suspect …Police Arrest Another In Bauchi

An angry mob yesterday beat to death a teenage girl alleged to be a suicide bomber and then set her body ablaze police and witnesses said in Bauchi.
A second suspect, also a teenage girl, was arrested at Muda Lawal, the biggest market in Bauchi city.
In Bauchi, the two girls aroused suspicion by refusing to be searched when they arrived at the gate to the vegetable market, said yam vendor Mohd Adamu. People overpowered one girl and discovered she had two bottles strapped to her body, he said.
They clubbed her to death, put a tire doused in fuel over her head and set it on fire, he said.
It seems doubtful the girl was actually a bomber as she did not detonate any explosives when she was attacked, said Police Deputy Superintendent Mohammad Haruna.
He described her as the victim of “mob action carried out by an irate crowd.”
A spate of suicide bombings has been blamed on Nigeria’s home-grown Boko Haram Islamic extremist group, which wants to enforce strict Islamic law across Nigeria.
The group has threatened to disrupt Nigeria’s March 28 presidential and legislative elections, saying democracy is a corrupt Western concept.
Recently, some girls as young as 10 years old have been used to carry explosives that detonated in busy markets and bus stations, raising fears that Boko Haram may be using some of its hundreds of kidnap victims in bomb attacks. It’s unclear whether such girls detonate explosives themselves or whether the bombs are controlled remotely.
President Goodluck Jonathan last week condemned the Boko Haram insurgents for choosing soft targets and said the series of bombings are a response to the Nigerian military’s recent success in seizing back a score of towns that had been in the hands of the extremists for months.
A multi-national military force including Nigeria’s neighbours is being formed to stop Boko Haram’s attacks outside Nigeria’s borders.
Some 10,000 people died in Nigeria from Boko Haram’s violence last year, compared to 2,000 in the first four years, according to the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations, and some 1.5 million people have been driven from their homes.
Meanwhile, the Defence Headquarters announced yesterday that troops foiled an attempt by Boko Haram terrorists to blow up a link bridge in Gulak, Adamawa State,with many of the insurgents killed in the process.
Many others were similarly killed in a separate encounter with the soldiers on Djimitillo/ Damaturu road after their camp was gutted by fire.
However, a soldier lost his life while another was wounded in the Damaturu road axis battle. This report could not be independently confirmed.
But the Director of Defence Information, Major General Chris Olukolade, said a statement that troops on cordon and search along Djimitillo Damaturu road axis on Friday night engaged a group of terrorists after their hideout was discovered by troops.
“The fierce fight to dislodge them from the location which is very close to a market, resulted in the capture of Machine Guns and rifles as well as the death of some number of them,” he said.
“Some of the terrorists are believed to have died in the fire that gutted the house where they had made their base. A soldier was killed while another was wounded and is undergoing treatment.
“In Gulak, Adamawa State, troops in pursuit of terrorists caught up with some of them who were in the process of blowing up a bridge to deter troops advance. The terrorists were not lucky as they died in their encounter with troops.
“The troops are continuing with the cordon and search of the town and environs after overpowering the terrorists. A lot of arms have been recovered in the process. Troops are also dismantling the terrorists group’s flags hoisted in the towns.”

President Goodluck Jonathan (left), being received by leaders of the Ijaw Group, during their meeting with the President in Asaba last Friday.